This invention concerns a hand-operated tool for use in horticulture to pick fruit, for examples, cherries.
Many kinds of fruits have to be picked. There is an increasing number of amateur and professional gardeners. The more civilized and the more clumsy man becomes, the lazier he gets when it comes to climbing trees or ladders, or even to moving. The demand for fruit-picking by means of hand-operated tools is constantly on the increase. At present there is only one kind of rather unsuitable device for fruit picking, or, to be more exact, for apple-picking.
One major difficulty is that they include bags which dangle, are unwieldy and are not aerodynamically shaped, therefore they cannot cope with such obstructions as close twigs, small branches and the leaves in the crown of the tree. Since these are, structurally speaking, akin to landing nets they will be referred to as "landing nets" for clarity of illustration.
A second difficulty is that the structure of the opening and bag of the "landing net" make tedious work. The old devices have a single flat opening, a single hanging bag and a single picking knife or blade. The structure means fruit-picking and catching can only be effected from one position.
A third difficulty is that the "landing net" is not mounted co-axially to the shaft (handle or pole) (FIG. 2). Therefore, it must be inclined so that its opening and the shaft form an angle of 30 degrees. This structure both makes the "landing net" unwieldy and demands of its user considerable agility to hold it in an optimal position for the fruit to be picked. There is an optimal position of the shaft when the shaft inclines upward at an angle of 60 degrees. In this position, the bag hangs down vertically just under the opening, the latter opens at its widest, and the bag swells out the most. In a word, this position is quite suitable for picking fruits. The more or less the shaft is inclined, the smaller the bag gets, the narrower the opening becomes and the more difficult the fruit-picking.
There are two crucial positions of "landing nets" when the shaft is absolutely vertical or is at an angle of 60 degrees from the horizontal. In these cases, the opening inclines upward at an angle of 60 degrees or downward at an angle of 90 degrees. It is most probable that the fruits will fall out of the opening.
Sometimes the fruits to be picked are to the left or to the right of the opening and the position required to pick them can only be achieved by turning the opening 90 degrees clockwise or anti-clockwise. There is no way that the "landing nets" can function in this situation, because with a 90 degrees sideways inclination of the opening, the fruits will all fall out.
These disadvantages of "landing nets" can be incredibly frustrating for the user should he be hindered in his movement on normal ground or if he is in a fruit tree or on a ladder or should the fruit tree be on a bank leaning over water.
A fourth difficulty is that the opening of the "landing nets" cuts the stems by means of a knife or single blade. Knife-cutting requires a sufficient reactive force on the part of the object being cut. However, fruit stems and small branches of most fruit trees can bend to some extent. The reactive force they supply is not sufficient for them to be cut. Therefore, only heavy fruit, such as apples, can be picked by using "landing nets" and that with some difficulty. Such "landing nets" are not suitable for picking cherries, grapes, etc.
A fifth difficulty is that the bag of the "landing nets" is made of fabric. Cloth easily gets dirty and saturated with water. Care must be taken to wash it. It is troublesome.
For the above-mentioned reasons, the previous inventions became impracticable and died prematurely. The eldest and most simple tool for fruit-picking among them has been adapted and is used nowadays as mentioned above in the case of "landing nets".